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Fragile States

Although the phenomenon of state failure is not new, it has become much more relevant and worrying than ever before. In less interconnected eras, state weakness could be isolated and kept distant. Failure had fewer implications for peace and security. Now, within a more interconnected global community these fragile states pose dangers not only to themselves and their neighbors but also to peoples around the globe. Preventing states from failing, and resuscitating those that do fail, are thus strategic and global imperatives. CIC has provided research in this arena, developed panel dicussions that have explored critical issues confronting failed states. CIC has also drawn on expertise from the practitioner, NGO, academic and UN communities, provided candid recommendations and potential solutions to the global threat that failed states present.

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This week, the UN General Assembly is debating a resolution proposing improvements to the Security Council's working methods, including the use of the veto. One important theme of the proposed resolution is the need to improve the ways in which the Security Council mandates, discusses and monitors peace operations. To coincide with this debate, the Center on International Cooperation is publishing a new paper by Alexandra Novosseloff and Richard Gowan entitled Security Council Working Methods and UN Peace Operations: The Case of Chad and the Central African Republic.

Globally 1.5 billion people live in countries affected by violent conflict. International aid to fragile and conflict-affected states accounts for 30 percent of global official development assistance (ODA) flows. However, no low-income fragile or conflict-affected country has yet to achieve a single Millennium Development Goal (MDG). For the first time, a group of these countries have joined together to discuss their shared development challenges and advocate for better international policies to address their needs.

Even the most seasoned Middle East observers were taken aback by the events of early 2011. Protests born of oppression and socioeconomic frustration erupted throughout the streets; public unrest provoked violent police backlash; long-established dictatorships fell. How did this all happen? What might the future look like, and what are the likely ramifications for the United States and the rest of the world? In The Arab Awakening, experts from the Brookings Institution tackle such questions to make sense of this tumultuous region that remains at the heart of U.S.

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As the displacement of Syrians and other refugees in Turkey becomes increasingly protracted with no quick solution to the conflict in Syria in sight, overstretching the resources and capacities for the refugee response to its limits, formulating strategies and solutions to address the medium to long-term needs of refugees and host communities becomes increasingly vital.